When George Orwell published 1984 in the 1940’s, the idea of a society where people were constantly watched seemed like something out of a nightmare. In the novel, the population lives under the control of a government that monitors their behaviour and personal lives, leaving them with barely any privacy. But have you ever wondered how much of Orwell’s world actually exists today? With CCTV cameras everywhere you go and smart devices in our pockets and our homes, I don’t think Orwell’s vision seems too far off.
The symbol of Big Brother is central to the novel. His face appears everywhere, accompanied by the message “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU”. He represents the constant presence of authority and the fear that nobody can escape being observed. Now, think about how many cameras you pass during a typical day. In our society, the numerous CCTV cameras in public spaces and advancing facial recognition technology could represent our own Big Brother. We have even started to surveil each other, with the rising popularity of the controversial Meta glasses and the new norm of recording and uploading videos of strangers onto online platforms. When you think about it, it’s quite unsettling how easily we can be watched, not just by governments and companies, but by the people around us as well.
I want you to consider how much of your personal, everyday life you share with technology. Nowadays, it is common to find smart devices and security cameras at home, which presents an eerie similarity to Orwell’s telescreens. In 1984, these devices allow the government to monitor people in their homes, leaving them with almost no sense of privacy. Although our modern technology is not designed with the same oppressive purposes, I can’t help but notice that most of us (me included) allow these devices to collect our data. Our Ring doorbells see everyone who comes and goes, our Alexas listen for commands and my phone could definitely work out where I do my weekly shop by tracking my location and recording Apple pay transactions. Our digital footprints are not just made up of our embarrassing search histories; they can also be extensive enough to map out our entire days, from the moment we wake up in the morning until we go to sleep at night.
With that being said, what makes this particularly interesting is that modern surveillance is often something we opt into. In Orwell’s 1984, surveillance is forced upon the population; however, in our world, many people willingly share their locations, photos, personal details and more online. I understand that we do this for convenience and to stay connected in our modern, digital world, but I think sometimes we underestimate the value of privacy. Even something as simple as searching your name on Google can bring up results about you that you didn’t expect to find online. It’s not that using technology is necessarily a bad thing, but perhaps we have become so used to sharing information that we no longer question how much of our lives we are making accessible to others.
So, although it is safe to say that we are not living in a society quite as extreme as Orwell’s dystopian 1984, I definitely think that we have become more accepting of surveillance than we realise. We readily share our lives with technology, often without considering the consequences and it is certainly worth rethinking how much of our privacy we are willing to give away.